The role of sustainability reporting in shareholder perception of tax avoidance

Astrid Rudyanto and Kashan Pirzada

Social Responsibility Journal, 2020, vol. 17, issue 5, 669-685

Abstract: Purpose - The purpose of this study is to examine the moderating effect of sustainability reporting on the relationship between tax avoidance and firm value. This study also examines the moderating effect of sustainability reporting in both environmentally sensitive firms and non-environmentally sensitive firms. Design/methodology/approach - This research uses moderated panel regression with 596 observations and 734 observations for cash effective tax rate (ETR) and generally accepted accounting principles effective tax rate (GAAP ETR) of firms listed on the Indonesian Stock Exchange between 2014 and 2016. Tax avoidance is measured by both cash ETR and GAAP ETR. Findings - This paper shows that sustainability reporting moderates the relationship between tax avoidance (GAAP ETR) and firm value. The results show that GAAP ETR has a negative association with firm value in non-environmentally sensitive firms and a positive association with firm value in environmentally sensitive firms. Consequently, the sustainability report alters only the effect of GAAP ETR on firm value in non-environmentally sensitive firms. The results imply that, unlike environmentally sensitive firms, non-environmentally sensitive firms need sustainability reporting to reduce the reputational costs of tax avoidance. Originality/value - How shareholders view tax avoidance remains unclear; research on this topic often fails to produce a uniform result. The present research fills this gap by using the existence of sustainability reporting as proof of companies’ ethical motivations to moderate the association of tax avoidance and firm value, which has not been discussed in previous research.

Keywords: Sustainability reporting; Tax avoidance; Firm value; Environmentally sensitive industries (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.110 ... d&utm_campaign=repec (text/html)
https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.110 ... d&utm_campaign=repec (application/pdf)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eme:srjpps:srj-01-2020-0022

DOI: 10.1108/SRJ-01-2020-0022

Access Statistics for this article

Social Responsibility Journal is currently edited by Prof David Crowther

More articles in Social Responsibility Journal from Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Emerald Support ().